


What You Wish For

by merlin07



Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 18:15:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 13,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9504866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merlin07/pseuds/merlin07
Summary: Sequel to Home To Roost





	1. Chapter 1

The Doctor was never very good at dealing with emotions, not in himself and not in others. He had promised John and Violet to help David get over his encounter with a darker and a lot less sane version of himself, but didn't have the first clue how to even approach the subject.

At first when he suggested they go off on another adventure he was told, firmly, politely and in no uncertain terms by the actor that he would rather eat broken glass than step inside the TARDIS for some unknown destination where who knows what was waiting for them.

The Time Lord stewed on this, he understood the tall Scot's reluctance to throw himself back in with them given his most recent experience. But he also knew that it was like getting bucked off of a horse. He just had to convince David to get back on and ride it out.

When at the end of the first week, when he approached the subject on neutral ground this time at a local cafe, with The Master safely out of the way. He could see the indecision in the dark eyes that were almost mirrors of his own.

"I'm not ready," David finally announced.  
But before The Doctor could get a more precise answer he quickly finished his coffee and made some excuse to leave.  
Knowing he had to come up with something so tempting, something that the actor could not pass on he dug into his impressive store of travel brochures, pulled out a pamphlet for Kalwlye and approached the tall Scot as he exited the shower a fortnight later.

"I know you've had a lot of stress lately," he started as he thrust the glossy coated paper into David's hands, "so I thought we'd go here."

David slipped on his glasses, "Kahl-we-lee?" he squinted at the title as he attempted to pronounce the name.

"It's Kal-wi-lie," The Doctor corrected him, "and it's one of the most exclusive resort planets in the Perdari system."

"Oh, like 'Midnight'?" the actor asked with a slight smile.

"No, no nothing like that, I promise no scary knocking on ships or possession, or bad music," The Doctor countered, "it caters to an exclusive sort of traveller, and each individual's experience is tailor made for him or her or variations thereupon."

"If it's so exclusive," The Master chimed in, joining them in David's bedroom, "how do you two plan to get past the check-in desk?"

The Doctor didn't seem to be offended by his fellow Time Lord's implication, "I saved the daughter of one of the founders from being sold into slavery by the Ghaim many years ago and I have a standing pass for unlimited visits, and guests."

He smiled as he sat down on the bed, "in fact, last time I visited I got to be an old West Cowboy. Stetson, chaps, spurs and all..." he trailed off with a soft smile.

"I can't imagine you as a cowboy," David laughed, the fatigue and careworn expression he had worn since coming out of stasis seemed to fade in that moment.

"I can," The Master groaned, "he'd look like a mangy scarecrow playing dress up," he shuddered, "I don't think there's enough retcon in the entire universe to get that image out of my mind."

The Doctor glared at him momentarily before turning to the tall Scot, "so, what do you say? Shall we?" he grinned.

"I'd like that," David replied, "think I should probably get dressed first though, even as an honoured guest I'm thinking just a towel would be in violation of their dress code."

With that the two Time Lords left him to get clothed and made their way to the TARDIS.

\---------

"What do you mean he just vanished?" the green skinned man growled from across his large, impressive faux-wood desk.

"I mean just that, he vanished. I was doing a routine security sweep, you know, scanning for guest's life forms outside the parameters and checking rooms to be sure all the programmes are running properly..." he cut his story short as he saw the look of annoyance on his boss' face, "and anyway Mr Ustkeli is gone."

"Did you check the docks? Maybe he decided to cut his holiday short?"

"His ship is still moored, and," the other man came around to the boss' side of the desk, leaned over and punch a few sequences out on a keyboard, "even if he left by another ship, I seriously doubt he'd leave his wallet, his jewellery," then he tapped the monitor, "and his rather gorgeous and expensive mistress behind."

As he said that a tall female, her glossy coat reminiscent of the Earth creature called a leopard, her tail flicking in anger appeared on the screen. Her yellow eyes narrowed as they zoomed on her face, "if you were him, would you walk away from her?"

The man seated at the desk was about to reply when a beeping sound filled the room, "we'll send out a search party, in the meanwhile we have new guests arriving," he tapped a few more keys on the computer and a blue box came into view, "unusual space craft," he murmured, "but guests none-the-less! Now, not a word of this to anyone! Can't go scaring off customers just because someone took a flier, right?"

The other man bowed slightly before leaving the room, "idiot," he mumbled as soon as he was out of earshot, "one day, when I'm in charge I'll see our 'guests' as more than just figures on a ledger..." with that he headed to the docks to greet their newest arrivals.


	2. Chapter 2

As the TARDIS doors opened they were greeted by a welcoming committee somewhere between a stereotypical Hawaiian aloha, complete with flower leis and beautiful dancing females of many different species and a Russian Military parade with very handsome males in uniform.

David smiled as he took this in, obviously they wanted to be sure to cater to everyone's tastes, he reasoned.

The sunlight was exceedingly bright after the cool soothing lighting of the TARDIS and he mentioned off hand to The Doctor that he wished he had packed sunglasses. No sooner had that been said than one of the dancing women broke from the ranks and reaching up on her tip toes placed a pair of sunglasses on him. She took a moment to brush his hair out of his face, gave him a less than chaste kiss and danced away.

David watched her in stunned silence, "what just happened?" he asked once he regained his voice.

"Oh didn't I tell you?" The Doctor grinned, "this whole planet is a super computer, after a fashion. Most of the beings you see are in fact simulants."

This term was not familiar to him and he looked even less enlightened than before The Doctor had offered an explanation.

The Master snorted, "he means robots."

"Robots, androids, simulants," The Doctor waved his hands as if conducting an orchestra, "they're artificial intelligences with some sort of image enhancing protocol. And this planet has the unique feature that if you speak a wish or want or desire aloud, it is instantly fulfilled."

"So if I say I wish I had a unicorn, they'd get me one?" David asked. Just as he said that an impressively uniformed lad, his purple skin glimmering in the sun started to make his way towards him with a white unicorn on a lead.

"Wow, OK, I'd better be careful what I wish for," the actor quickly amended, "I don't actually want a unicorn after all," he raised his voice to be heard over the musicians. At that the lad turned away leading the unicorn back to wherever he had gotten it in the first place.

"There are certain limitations though," The Doctor informed him, "you can't wish someone back from the dead, although they will come up with a simulant who looks like that person for you for your stay if you wish. Oh and you can't kill anyone. Although, again they will provide you with a look-alike simulant for you to 'take out' if you want. It's all fantasy."

"So what happens on Kalwlye stays on Kalwlye?"

"Yup, no real harm can come to you, unless you wish for that, otherwise they have a very strict policy against it. And they have tissue and bio-regenerators if you do really want to be hurt or killed so it's not permanent. They have checks and balances longer than your arm, but be sure you think about what you say, because they take everything very literally."

The Master was already enjoying his first moments on Kalwlye; he was in the company of some very handsome young men, a cigar in one hand, a glass of something almost as blue as the skin of one of his scantily clad entourage.

The Doctor followed David's gaze, "he'll be fine, I wired ahead that the only thing he cannot do is leave the planet without me. So he can indulge his fantasies and blow off a bit of steam in the process."

He clapped his hand on the actor's shoulder, "let me make sure the TARDIS is locked up safely and then we can go check out the bungalow we've got for the duration, this will be fun!"

As they walked towards the main compound they didn't notice the smiles on the gathered simulants fade once they passed by. The almost-real eyes briefly flared like supernovas, their faces masks of inhuman rage. Feeling something odd, David turned back around to look at them but they quickly returned to normal, beaming back at him with wide smiles.


	3. Chapter 3

The bungalow, as The Doctor had called it, was more like a mansion. The edifice was white like the purest of marble and it had more marble in the foyer as they stepped inside.

"Please state your preferences," a mechanical voice prompted them as they crossed the threshold.

"What does that mean?" David asked.

"Like the TARDIS it did when you first came on-board, this house will scan you and find out what you'd like for a bedroom, bathroom, servants, and so on."

"Hopefully without the Hello Kitty statue," the actor laughed remembering the time capsule's apparent sense of humour.

"Unless that's what you want," The Doctor winced remembering the little talk he had to have with his beloved ship.

"Scanning now," the voice announced.

Then mere seconds later the interior shifted. Instead of a grand foyer with gleaming white marble the flooring was replaced with a mixture of hard woods and metal grating. With ceiling high windows and lush carpets as runners.

"That is impressive," David breathed out as he looked around the room.

"Isn't it?" The Doctor clapped his hands, "bravo!"

His amusement was cut short as a dark haired woman appeared at the top of the stairs, dressed in a long scarlet robe with gold trim, her long hair swept back with silver combs. She smiled at the Time Lord as she made her way down the steps.

For his part the smile The Doctor had had on his face instantly turned to a mixture of horror and shock.

"What's wrong?" David asked as he watched the colour drain from his companion's face, "who is that?"

The woman reached the Time Lord before he could muster enough wit to reply, "I'm his wife," she took the still unmoving man's hand in hers, "hello darling," she cooed, "did you miss me?"

\-------

"We have a mauve code on unit four-diamond-zed," the green skinned woman sitting at a bank of security monitors announced as she spoke into a com unit.

"Where is the malfunctioning unit now?" a voice crackled across the intercom.

"It's in the baths, it was supposed to be giving a relaxing massage to one of our guests but almost strangled her before we cut the power," the woman replied, "we have a clean-up crew there now. She'll be given a complimentary pass to the buffet tomorrow, even though I think she was probably too drunk to really notice."

"When's the last time that unit was brought in for service?" the voice asked.

The woman pulled up the maintenance records, "according to our records, two days ago for routine check-up and a new battery."

"I'll run a check on other batteries from that lot, just to be sure," the voice replied, "I'm sure it's just a one-time anomaly. But doesn't hurt to check."

The woman closed the communication channel with a sigh and went back to monitoring the other simulants and guests.


	4. Chapter 4

The dark haired woman lifted her hand to cup The Doctor's cheek but he stepped out of her reach, "this is my fault," he stammered, "as we were being scanned, I remembered the last time I was here. Remember? Cowboy outfit? It was on a holiday with her, well, my real wife not this...."

He fumbled in his pockets, searching for something. He looked like he was doing some hyperactive version of the Macarena, as he rooted around in the various pockets of his jacket, trousers and coat.

The woman tried again to make contact, but the Time Lord was too quick and practically leapt away from her, "and I thought about that, and well...."

"Here she is," David concluded.

"Right!" The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started to scan her, "they seem to have a pretty sophisticated morphic illusion software programme. It's difficult," he paused as the woman advanced again, "to get the correct..."

He twisted the end of the screwdriver and aimed a burst of energy at the determined woman, and her whole body flickered like a television with bad reception, then went still. A second or two later the face became a silver metallic mask and the illusion was gone.

The Doctor circled the now still simulant, getting very close to it and scanning it with the screwdriver, "that is beautiful workmanship, just look at those seams! That is art!"

David got in close too, but failed to be impressed by the rivets and joints but pretended to admire it for the Time Lord's sake.

As soon as they stepped back a yellow beam of light came down from the foyer's ceiling and the android disappeared, "removal," The Doctor murmured, as he watched it go.

Then straightening up he looked over at the tall Scot, "what?" he asked taking in the other's amused expression.

"I'm trying to figure out why you were dressed as a cowboy."

At first he didn't seem to want to answer the question but then the Time Lord sighed, "she wanted to play cowboys and Indians...it was um...well..a sort of..."

"You know what?" David held up his hands, "never mind. I think I get the picture."

The Doctor coloured a bit then cleared his throat, "let's see what other surprises this place holds," he quickly changed the subject, and then ran up the stairs to the bedrooms.

David was about to join him when the front door flew open and The Master made his dramatic entrance. He was flanked on all sides by some rather nubile beings of a variety of genders and species and seemed to be having the time of his life.

"Is there a hot tub in this dump?" he asked removing the cigar from his mouth to address the actor.

"I don't know, we just got here ourselves," David replied, trying to picture the whole crowd fitting into a standard sized hot tub, "apparently, though you just have to wish for one..."

He stopped as The Master waved him off and made his way towards the back of the bungalow, completely dismissing him.

"Hope it's cold," David grumbled, before making his way up the stairs.


	5. Chapter 5

Before David could reach the upper floor he heard a loud, school girl-style high pitched screech as his wish came true. He smiled wickedly to himself and continued up the stairs. As he made his way upwards the front door opened and a voice called out, "hello? Anybody home?"

This brought The Doctor to the stair rail to peer over at the newest arrival. He gave an amused look at David, "OK I know I wasn't thinking of him when I got scanned..." he quirked his left eyebrow at the actor.

"Well don't look at me!" the tall Scot shot back, "I was concentrating on not getting Hello Kitty statue or pink walls in my room, I am pretty sure it wasn't me."

The man now standing in the foyer looked up at them, "you two going to stand there gossiping like school girls or are you going to come down and say hi?" he put his hands on his hips and grinned up at them.

The Doctor pulled out his glasses and his sonic screwdriver. Then he headed down the steps with a look of grim determination on his face. He got within a metre of the still smiling man and pointed the device at him, switching it on.

Unlike the vision of the simulant in the guise of his wife, this android's morphic illusion didn't seem to waiver. David watched and waited for the facade to go fuzzy then reveal the robot underneath but this one stayed constant.

The man's smile grew wider, "I'm sure you have a higher setting that might actually do something for me," he laughed, "does it have a more 'specialised' option?"

The Doctor frowned as he twiddled the controls, and re-aimed it at the being in front of him. When he didn't get the results he expected he held the screwdriver to his ear and shook it, "why aren't you working?" he asked if as if expecting it to answer.

David came down the stairs and tapped him on the shoulder, "it is working, he is really Jack."

"Of course I am," Jack assured him with a laugh, "the one, the only and the original! Often admired, never imitated!"

"I thought you were a simulant," The Doctor gave him one more scan before pocketing the screwdriver, "what are you doing here?"

"I was here on holiday, well deserved R&R and I heard the TARDIS land," Jack explained, "by the way if you ever want to sneak up on someone you really should get those osmosis clamps serviced, anyway so I bribed the security guard on duty to tell me which bungalow you were booked into. Nice chap by the way, amazing dimples..." he broke off. Then he shook himself and refocused on them, "and thought I'd drop in!"

He looked around, "nice digs, very posh. I have a room at the main hotel, but if you don't mind I could bunk here with you instead. I'm sure the couch is nice and comfy," he licked his lips as he looked at the two of them thoughtfully, "unless you have other arrangements in mind?

Before either of them could reply Jack was out the back door with a huge smile on his face, "hey you have a hot tub..." then he went still, the smile fading as he stood in stunned silence.

The Doctor rushed over and looked out as well, "oh...." he breathed out slowly, "that can't be good."

David joined them, and peered out of the window. The Master was fiddling with some controls next to the hot tub. Gone was the entourage of nubile beauties; instead there were six dour looking men in their place. Each was smoking a cigar and holding a glass of something bright blue.

"Who are they?" he asked as he noticed that both Jack and The Doctor had gone white in the face.

"Are they all?” Jack started, but instead of completing his sentence he gulped audibly and clutched at his shirt front nervously.

"The Master," The Doctor finished his eyes wide in disbelief.


	6. Chapter 6

"How can they all be The Master?" David asked not taking his eyes from the men in the hot tub.

"They are all him, regenerations from past and present and," The Doctor squinted, "possibly a future one too. Can't quite tell from here."

"Leave it to him to have a wish to be surrounded by himself," the actor snorted, "I'll bet that is his idea of heaven."

The Doctor opened the door, causing seven pairs of mismatched eyes to look his way.

"Doc," Jack grabbed the sleeve of the brown suit, "maybe you should stay back until we get this straightened out."

"Rule number one," the Time Lord pulled out a brochure and turning to the appropriate page tapped the text, "the simulants can't hurt a living being."

"Try telling them that," David gestured vaguely at the various Masters.

"Simulants can't hurt a living being," The Doctor called out to them.

"No," one of them replied, "but we can annoy the hell out of you."

"And everyone else," Jack added, then he stepped out onto the decking dipping his hand into the hot tub to check the temperature, "got room for one more?" he asked as he started to strip off his clothing.

The minute he was completely undressed all seven Masters hastily removed themselves from the area. This didn't seem to affect the ex-Time Agent's good mood as he lowered himself into the bubbling water with a sigh.

The living, breathing Master, stalked up to The Doctor, "what is your boy toy doing here?"

"Purely a happy coincidence," the thin Time Lord grinned, "but seeing how you have all your....well yourselfs? yourselves? all of you to keep you company, I would think it doesn't matter if he's here or not."

David had been watching the various Masters with his eyes wide and shining, "oh look, one of them does have a 'rubbish beard'!" he laughed.

When the beard owner heard that his shoulders tensed and he whipped around to glare at the actor, "at least I don't have spots," he pointed at David's face, "or look like I would blow away in a stiff wind!"

David was about to reply when The Doctor shot him a "shut up" look and deciding he was probably right, he clamped his teeth together with a snap and continued his Master watching in silence.


	7. Chapter 7

The Doctor watched the various Masters file past him, stepping way back to avoid getting run down, with an amused expression. He waited until the living version started to stroll by, “this isn’t going to work you know,” he laughed.

“What isn’t?” The Master scowled.

“Whatever it is you think you and your other ‘yous’ are going to accomplish. I give you about two, maybe three, hours before you start arguing and you have a massive row with one or more of them,” he continued, “you can’t get along with anyone, and that includes yourself!”

“I’ll have you know I am very easy to get along with, it’s you who are impossible!” The Master snorted, “I think I will be in seventh heaven being able to talk to others with the same impressive intelligence level, rather than a bunch of small minded, thin, freckled morons.”

This made David laugh too, “this isn’t a sad attempt to get back at us for John and my…um whatever he was?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about!” The Master grumbled, “now if you’ll excuse me I have better things then to hang around your inferior minds, I feel my I.Q. dropping just being near you.” With that he tightened the belt on his fluffy robe and walked away with as much dignity as he could muster.

The Doctor’s smile grew wider, “I wonder if room service will deliver popcorn, soda and a camera? This is going to be interesting.”

"Good thing I didn't ask if any of them had a wife," David mused, talking mostly to himself.

Just then Jack called out, “you know this is a pretty big hot tub, and it’s awfully lonely with just me in it.”

The two men exchanged looks, then The Doctor spoke, “go ahead I want to keep an eye on The Masters…” he shuddered, “wow just saying that in the plural feels wrong on so many levels,” he mumbled, then he turned away from the open doorway and walked slowly towards the interior of the bungalow.

David approached the hot tub, and was about to say something about needing to grab his swim suit when he realised that Jack was wearing nothing but a wide smile.

“Come on in,” the ex-Time Agent chortled, “the water’s fine.”

“Don’t you worry about the last occupants and what they may have done in there before they got out?” David replied looking at the frothing water cautiously.

Jack’s grin slipped, as he too cast a wary look at the bubbling tub. Then his smile was reinstated, “there’s enough disinfectant to cause frogs to go sterile in here,” the he patted the water, “besides you’re really more worried what I will do when you get in, am I right?”

Not willing to admit to that David bent down and put his hand in the water, “seems overly warm,” he observed and made to straighten up, but Jack was too quick. In one swift motion he stood up, revealing to the world his best assets, and pulled the actor, fully clothed, into the hot tub.

Moving in swiftly to cut off any protests he pulled the sputtering man in close, “now, how about getting out of those wet clothes?” he laughed.


	8. Chapter 8

To Jack’s dismay his little ploy failed, David was not at all amused at being fully clothed and soaking wet. He slid out of the ex-Time Agent’s grasp and climbed out of the tub, “if that was supposed to be seductive, you missed by a long shot,” the tall Scot grumbled, pulling his sopping wet shirt away from his chest.

He grabbed a spare towel and dried himself as much as possible and then went into the house, his trainers squelching as he walked away.

Jack sighed and fell back into the hot tub. He kept getting his thin, dark-eyed men confused; The Doctor would have taken his actions as a challenge and probably would have started a dunking war that would eventually have led to something a bit more pleasurable.

‘Oh well,’ he shrugged, ‘better luck next time.’

His eyes started to flutter closed as he let the hot water relax him but something felt like it was boring into the back of his head, putting him on edge. He straightened up and came face to face with one of The Master’s simulants. This one had long dark blonde hair combed straight back, and slicked with some sort of pomade. The tell-tale mismatched eyes were regarding him with an almost clinical interest.

“What?” he snapped as the other’s unblinking gaze began to pluck his nerves.

This version of the Time Lord kept silent but didn’t lower his gaze. Jack resisted the urge to pull his head off and decided the best course of action was to ignore him. But just in case he moved the towel that hid his gun a bit closer to the edge of the tub. Then turning away he affected a casual pose even though he was so tense it would have been possible to bounce a coin off of his shoulders muscles.

By looking away he didn’t see the familiar two-toned eyes flash bright red and the artificial visage on the simulant turn into a feral mask of rage as the hands slowly clenched and unclenched. Then the whole thing trembled and the guise of a version of The Master was restored.

\-------

The Doctor was following the herd of Masters, much to the dismay of most of them. He trailed behind them like a dog tending a flock of sheep with a silly grin on his face.

The living breathing Master did his best to disregard his fellow Time Lord’s presence but some of his other selves kept glancing over their shoulders.

“One of you seems to have wandered off,” he spoke up after doing a head count.

“That’s impossible, I gave strict orders for all of us to stick together,” the real Master snapped.

“I told you that you would have problems controlling them, you…or whatever,” The Doctor waved vaguely at them.

“Which one is missing?”

Recounting the thin Time Lord attempted to answer that question but failed to come up with who it was, “you all blend into one after a while,” he replied dismissively.

This made them all turn around to glare at him, he didn’t notice at first as he was still lost in thought trying to recall who was not there. When he did look up he stepped back involuntarily as the six pairs of eyes bore into his.

“Whoa,” he breathed out, “that’s the stuff of nightmares!”

At that, they all turned away and continued on their way deciding he was no longer of any interest.

The flesh and blood Master was not as easily distracted, he counted and recounted heads. Finally it dawned on him which one of his incarnations was missing. The fourth regeneration’s replicant had wandered off.

Recalling himself during that period in his life he had to admit if one of him would be a problem that’s the one he should have anticipated trouble from. At that point in his growth as a sentient being he was always angry and openly rebellious instead of being the more controlled and subtle Time Lord he was now.

Debating whether or not to go in search of this self, he was about to say something to The Doctor about minding his own business when all the lights in the bungalow flickered on and off and then the whole place was plunged into darkness.


	9. Chapter 9

David had been almost completely dried off with the help of a blow dryer and a few more towels when the power went off. Figuring he had tripped a breaker he grabbed one of the fluffy robes, threw it on and went in search of the fuse box.

As he passed a set of windows he could see the deck illuminated by other nearby bungalow’s outdoor lighting. And by angling a bit more, he could see the hot tub as well. He expected to see Jack still languishing into the foaming water, but instead saw two men locked in combat thrashing about in its confines instead.

One was quite clearly Jack; the other was a bit harder to make out as he seemed to be spending most of his time being held under water by the ex-Time Agent.

David ran down the stairs to offer help. As he hit the foyer he saw the various Masters and The Doctor in the half light.

“Jack!” he called out as he ran past.

That seemed to be all the information the thin Time Lord needed, and he took off after the actor, following him outside.

The kicking legs of the simulant made contact with the switch box next to the tub, resetting the breaker making the lights spring back to life just as the two men reached the sight of the struggle.

Jack was having a hard time holding onto the wet and thrashing figure. Occasionally an arm would rise about the waves and smack him hard on the head or make a grab for his more delicate parts and attempt to cause him further harm.

“No need to help or anything,” Jack growled, as a hand reached up and grabbed at his hair.

“Sorry,” The Doctor replied and quickly pulled out his sonic screwdriver, adjusted the settings and aimed it at the partially submerged Master replica.

Almost instantly the water went calm and Jack let go of the simulant, “it just attacked me. I did nothing to provoke it!” he took a deep calming breath.

“I thought you said that they couldn’t harm a living being?” David asked as he watched the two men lifting out the now clearly robotic form out of the tub.

“Jack may be a bit of a loophole,” The Doctor mused, “he can’t stay dead, so it’s not like they are doing any lasting harm if they do kill him.”

“Gee thanks Doc,” Jack groused.

“Don’t blame me,” the Time Lord snapped, “I didn’t write their programme!”

Jack regarded the still form with a grimace, “I came here for a bit of indulgent fantasies, maybe trying out a harem or two or three, not to be set upon by a look-a-like of an irritating jerk of a Time Lord!”

Noting that Jack was making no attempt to clothe himself, David wasn’t exactly sure where to look when addressing him, so he settled for a spot just above his shoulder, “maybe it just malfunctioned? They are just basically machines after all.”

Jack noted his discomfort with a grin, and decided to play on it, stepping in a bit closer and leaning forward, “true,” he agreed, “but they’re supposed to have safeties built in.”

David turned a bit red and swallowed convulsively as Jack ‘accidentally’ brushed up against him. The Doctor watched this exchange with a highly amused expression, “either way, we should probably call the head desk and have them remove this unit so they can examine it and figure out what went wrong.” 

“I’ll call them,” the tall Scot offered quickly and practically ran into the house.

“That was just mean,” The Doctor swatted Jack playfully on the arm. Then he located a fresh towel and tossed it at him.

“I know,” Jack tried to look repentant, but failed completely to pull it off, his blue eyes twinkling with devilment, “but I couldn’t resist.”

“Get dressed and meet us inside,” the Time Lord gestured at the bungalow, “let’s just hope that ‘malfunction’ is a one-off and not the start of a rather disturbing trend!”


	10. Chapter 10

The maintenance staff went to work almost immediately after David had hung up the phone. They homed in on the robot, and beamed it back to their workshop for examination.

The Master, the one not battery operated, appeared just as his erstwhile past self-copy was being removed, "what did I miss?" he asked.

"Your fourth regeneration simulant attacked Jack," The Doctor informed him.

"Shows initiative," The Master laughed, "I've wanted to do that since I first met him, but I thought..."

"It couldn't hurt a living being," Jack interjected, "yeah, apparently no one told it that. Now unless one of you wants to help me warm up?" he glanced around hopefully, "no? Well then I'm going to get dressed."

The Doctor waited until the ex-Time Agent was out of sight before rounding on his fellow Time Lord, "did you give them instructions to hurt Jack?" he asked his voice low and dark.

"Of course not!" The Master's eyes grew wide as he tried to look innocent, "beside according to that fancy brochure of yours they couldn't anyway. Now if you'll excuse me I only came back this way to see if I could find...ah," he bent down and picked up something from the floor by David's feet, "there it is." Then without another word he walked away.

The two men watched him saunter off. Then taking a deep breath The Doctor turned to the tall Scot, "seems a shame to waste our time here worrying about one silly malfunction, what would you like to re-enact or do or whatever?"

"Are you sure it's safe?" David asked, "after all that robot thing did try to kill Jack."

"Of course it's safe!" The Doctor replied, plastering a fake smile on his face, which slipped a bit as he added, "at least I think it is," then with a frown he continued, "hopefully it is." Then he brightened once more, "but either way, would you rather stay cooped up in here or take a chance out there and have some fun?"

"Your idea of fun? Or mine?"

"If you'd rather stay in," Jack's voice called down over the railing, "I can suggest some activities that are a bit more safe and a whole heck of a lot of fun, for all of us."

David looked at the ex-Time Agent, then back at The Doctor, "OK let's head out," he quickly moved to the door opening it.

Jack came down the stairs, "I don't know whether to be pleased that worked or be insulted," he mused aloud.

Knowing there was nothing he could say that would come out the right way the thin Time Lord made for the door as well as if Jack hadn't spoken.

As they walked towards the main compound David turned to The Doctor, "what are you going to wish for?"

The question seemed to take the Time Lord by surprise, "me?" he pointed at himself, "I hadn't really considered it."

"I can guess what Jack will wish for, “the actor continued, "but surely you have something you'd like to do? I know that thing with the robot version of your wife unsettled you a bit. It would anyone, but don't you have some fantasy you'd like to live out?"

The Doctor went still, a look somewhere between horror and resignation on his face, "my reality is strange enough..." he murmured then with a shudder, he pulled himself together.


	11. Chapter 11

The two men walked in silence for a bit more then David grinned as the penny dropped, “you don’t want to indulge a fantasy,” he turned to face the Time Lord, “you want to poke around as see if you can figure out what’s going on!”

“No, no, of course not!” The Doctor replied trying to go for outraged, but he could tell by the look on the other man’s face that it wasn’t working.

He sighed, “OK, I am just a bit curious,” he admitted with a sheepish grin, “after all this is way outside of their normal operational parameters.”

“I knew it!” David’s smile widened,” you know there’s a saying on Earth ‘don’t go looking for trouble’, I think you may want to consider that once in a while.”

“I don’t go looking for it, it just seems to find me wherever I go,” The Doctor shrugged, “but now that we’re here it wouldn’t hurt to do just a bit of sleuthing…”

“So you say,” David replied ruefully, glancing around the rapidly filling up plaza, “is there some special event going on?”

“Not that I know of, why do you ask?”

“It’s getting awfully crowded around here all of a sudden,” he pointed out teeming bodies as the courtyard in front of the hotel seemed to be the ‘in spot’ to be for no readily apparent reason.

“Maybe it’s tea time?” The Doctor offered hopefully.

“Or a shift change?” David spun around to look at the ever growing numbers.

“For some reason the term ‘invasion’ comes leaping to mind,” the Time Lord rubbed his chin, “and we’re at ground zero.”

“Any chance of changing our location?”

“Um….” came the very unhelpful reply.

Jumping up a few times to try to see above the sea of creatures flooding their general vicinity David couldn’t see a place that wasn’t over run by the now almost claustrophobic amount of beings, “I don’t suppose we’re in luck and these are all living, breathing entities that can be reasoned with?”

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the crowd, “umm…well…”

“That would be a ‘no’ then,” David sighed, “OK, now what? And if you say ‘um’ again I will scream!”

This made the Time Lord blink at him in surprise, he swallowed once and glanced around them, “let’s see, advancing hoards of simulants, given the past history it’s a fair bet that what’s actually going on is well, not good, and we’re right in the middle of the, well, whatever is going on.”

“That about sums it up, now a solution would be nice!”

“Agreed,” The Doctor nodded not taking his eyes from the others, “do you happen to have one?”

“Me?” David’s voice squeaked, “that’s your department! Can’t you just blast them all with your sonic screwdriver like you did to the others?”

“All of them? I think not. In the time it would take to unmask and shut them all down they would definitely accomplish whatever it is they’re planning on doing. Hopefully Jack is somewhere out there,” the thin Time Lord stepped back as one of the android almost trod on his foot, “and he is working on a rescue, ‘cos I’m all out of ideas at the moment.”

\-----

Jack was not in the milling crowd but wasn’t exactly alone either. Given that the two tall, sexy men, correction, one sexy man and one sexy Time Lord had turned down his offer he decided to test the resort’s resources by providing him with other distractions.

He had been all over the universe and had many encounters with varied beings but hadn’t managed to get everywhere, not just yet. So he conjured up some of the ones he had missed out on. As far as that went he was impressed with how quickly they fulfilled his order.

Now the only problem was where to start? He smiled as a Quaot, replete with soft pink fur approached him, purring a greeting. He hadn’t specified genders and really being a broad minded guy he didn’t exactly care.

Throwing himself on the oversized bed that came with this fantasy he spread his arms wide, “now, now no shoving, there’s plenty of me to go around! Who would like to go first?”


	12. Chapter 12

The simulants were now getting uncomfortably close. David was pressed up against the thin back of the Time Lord as they both tried to come up with a solution. Just when the hands began to reach out for them the courtyard was flooded with a bright yellow light and a blink of the eye later they were once again alone.

Not quite sure what had just happened the tall Scot scanned the now seemingly deserted area, "that was lucky," he breathed out.

"I'm not sure how lucky that really was," The Doctor replied, "that was obviously a major breakdown in both the machines themselves and whatever it is that was supposed to be monitoring them."

"Agreed," David nodded, then he looked around again, "where'd Jack get to?"

"He mentioned something about having a private party in his suite," the Time Lord replied vaguely, as he prowled around the edges of the square.

"We should probably go see that he's all right."

"He is capable of taking care of himself," came the dismissive reply, "I think it's a bit more important to figure out what's going on."

This seemed to anger David, "you do what you want," he snapped, "I'm going to go check on him," and with that he stalked off leaving The Doctor to stare after him, mouth slightly open.

"Humans," he shook his head, then rethinking that, he amended, "or in this case, mostly humans..." he watched David disappear into the hotel before returning to the task at hand.

\---------

Asking at the reception desk for Jack's room David was dismayed to discover the hotel's policy of strict privacy. He knew that Jack himself had bypassed that when he found them at the bungalow but he wasn't prepared to do whatever it was he guessed the ex-Time Agent had done to get that information.

He glanced out of the large glass windows at the front of the hotel and saw The Doctor still prowling around the courtyard. He knew the Time Lord didn't understand why he was upset with him, but he wasn't really sure he could put it into words just yet.

The root of it was his seemingly casual and frankly disdainful attitude towards his concern over Jack's well being. Truth be told he still was a bit stung himself by the way The Doctor had handled his own feelings recently.

Maybe, he pondered, it was time to stop the madness and return to the real world and get on with his life outside the TARDIS.

He sat down on a sofa in the lobby and stared up at the ceiling. As his mind wandered he remembered the scene in his basement. His sobbing duplicate held tightly in his arms, the broken man begging forgiveness of him. He knew in that instance that, but for the grace of God and the selflessness of his biological parents, that could have been him.

And now he was expected to just forget all that and throw himself into some new adventure with The Doctor as if nothing had happened?

Perhaps he should have stuck to his guns and not let himself be talked into this again so soon.

Determined to stop wallowing in self-pity David took a steadying breath and finally noticed the parade of various beings, some most likely simulants and others who appeared to be living creatures as they made their way to the lifts.

Catching up to one of them he asked, "where are you going?"

The all-black lizard like being, his shimmering scales reflecting the light turned to him with a grin, revealing silver teeth, "there's a party going on in suite 205, and on open invite to those interested."

Instantly sure that this was Jack's handy work David smiled, "sounds like fun," he followed him into the lift mentally crossing his fingers that his intuition was right.


	13. Chapter 13

The noises of a rather raucous and most likely very successful party could be heard before the lift doors even opened.

David followed the others to the end of the hallway and saw a door flung open wide to admit all comers.

As he stepped inside the room he saw creatures of so many different varieties his head swam just trying to take it all in. A full bar had been set up in one corner of the room and guessing by the multi-coloured drinks in almost everyone's hands they seemed to be making good use of it.

There were cushions lining the floor against the walls, with all manner of encounters taking place on them. Making his way further into the suite he saw what appeared to be a long queue down one of the hallways.

He passed an obviously unoccupied loo so he knew it wasn't a line for that. His curiosity piqued he stepped up to one of the queue, a smaller being covered in a rainbow assortment of feathers and asked, "what are you waiting for?"

"My turn," came the unhelpful answer.

"Right," David nodded, "your turn for what?"

Just as he asked that a squat figure, seemingly made out of a slick green vinyl-like material came out of the room, a crooked smile on its face.

Seconds later a flushed, smiling Jack came out the room wearing just a loosely tied robe, "hmm," he hummed thoughtfully, "who's next?"

He walked down the line up eyeing each hopeful candidate as he passed. He had almost completed his first pass when he saw David, "wow," he chuckled, "now this is a wonderful surprise, I don't remember wishing you up, but they did a remarkable job!"

A bit confused at this greeting the tall Scot didn't respond straight away. Jack leaned in close running his fingers over David's face, "they even got the right amount of freckles and that oh so lovely hint of stubble," he grinned, "you're next!"

With that he grabbed David's hands in his and pulled him towards the room, but before disappearing inside Jack informed the others in line, "this may take a while, you may want to check back in a few hours!"

A collective groan of disappointment filled the air as the door clicked shut.

David, now completely aware of Jack's mistake and highly amused by it decided to play along for a while, wondering how long it would take the ex-Time Agent to figure it out. By the lopsided grin on his face it was apparent that Jack had consumed his fair share of the brightly coloured cocktails David had seen in other's hands.

"You know," Jack continued his appraisal of what he obviously thought was a simulant, "I have always been impressed with the accuracy and attention to detail but this is just amazing," he pulled David in tight and kissed him, running his hands over the actor's back and cupping his backside to increase body contact.

Figuring this had gone far enough David pulled away, "Jack I'm not a simulant. I'm really me."

Jack's grin faded as the penny dropped, "damn!" he pouted, "I was really hoping..." then he regrouped and his smile returned, "well this is actually better, right?"

"I didn't really come here for that," David gestured at the crumpled bed, then he quickly filled Jack in on the events in the plaza.

Jack sat on the edge of the mattress with a sigh, "in an organisation of this size there are bound to be glitches. The Doctor's right, although the security was a bit slow in responding, you weren't really in danger at that point. So all's well that ends well."

Sitting next to Jack David tried to let himself be convinced of that. But he was having a hard time dismissing the nagging feeling of doubt.

Jack sidled in closer, "now then, since you're here," he patted the bed affectionately, "how about helping me make one of my fantasies come true?"


	14. Chapter 14

The Doctor, once his prowling had turned up nothing reached out telepathically to David to check that he was all right before heading back to the bungalow to check on The Master before turning in for the night.

All the lights were ablaze as he approached the house. Taking a deep breath before opening the front door he saw The Masters arranged on various bits of furniture watching something on a large television. When they all laughed at the same time he moved in for a closer look, only to find that they were watching a documentary on the last great time war. He shuddered as the screen showed images of ships on fire and charred bodies, much to the apparent delight of the assembled others.

Turning away he quietly made his way up to his room, trying to remember whether or not it had a lock on it.

\-----

Even though the clock was edging into the wee hours of morning the meeting room was packed to the rafters. Some of the staff, clearly roused from their beds, looked like all they had managed to do was throw a coat over their pyjamas before making an appearance.

Others had clearly been not quite ready to go to bed before receiving the call, at least not for sleeping.

As soon as the Resort Manager breezed into the room he pounced, "who was supposed to be on security detail?" he demanded, throwing a file folder down on the impressively large table.

All eyes turned to a purple skinned being who was trying to hide behind others in order to not be seen. When he realised his ruse was not working he stepped forward, "me sir, but in my defense I was monitoring the systems and nothing seemed out of the ordinary!"

"Nothing?" the Manager's voice had reached levels of squeakiness that set most of their teeth on edge, "you call a riot of robots nothing?"

The purple man stepped forward and held out a small disc, "this is from the CCTV in the courtyard, may I respectfully suggest you view this?"

The disc was passed hand to hand until it reached the Manager, he slipped it into a slot on the wall and the image burst into being. As the security guard had said, nothing seemed to be happening. They could see the trees swaying in the wind, the odd comings and goings of guests but there was no sign of any simulants massing and the time stamp was clearly from the right period.

"I don't understand," the Manager gaped as the images recycled and replayed, "we had eye witnesses who saw this take place and some were very credible! But yet... the video shows nothing?"

The security guard, feeling emboldened by this seeming vindication nodded, "so I was monitoring it but the cameras apparently had been tampered with or...something."

The Manager sat in a chair at the head of the table, "there have been too many incidents lately, things are being messed with and I'm not happy. I need answers not excuses!"

One woman, fairly exuding the air of middle management chimed in, "do you think it's the work of competitors? Perhaps the Erimy are trying to discredit us and take our business away?"

A murmur buzzed around the room, all the higher ups seemed to nod in agreement. The Manager's eyes followed the buzzing and he straightened up in his chair, a new light of purpose hitting him, "find out! If they are trying to ruin us, they'll soon find themselves out of business!"

Then he stood up, "go home, all of you. We'll meet tomorrow to discuss how to launch a counter attack on Erimy, I'll have my assistant set the time later.”

“Until then,” he continued, “not a word of this leaves this room, we need to keep things quiet just in case there are spies checked into the resort disguised as guests, I wouldn’t put it past those underhanded weasels!”

As the crowd dispersed the middle management woman smiled at the false trail they were all now in pursuit of, her eyes briefly flashing from their normal green to bright red as she gathered up her papers and left the room.


	15. Chapter 15

Jack yawned and surveyed his surroundings. The room looked like a cyclone had hit it. Nothing abnormal about that, seemed any time he ‘entertained’ on a grand scale the morning after showed the damage to his room and sitting up with a wince as a stab of pain hit his head, damage to his body as well.

“Must remember to not mix pan galactic gargle blasters with hyper gins,” he chided himself as he tried to recall if he had packed any aspirin.

Later after he had emerged from a refreshing shower he made to get dressed. The jeans he had worn the day before were completely shredded. He grinned remembering what had led up to this, and chose a more decent pair from his overnight case. Reaching into the night stand he went to remove the Vortex Manipulator from its customary resting spot but when he opened the case it was completely empty.

Glancing around the chaos he tried to figure out where it could be but it was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t particularly worried for two reasons; one, he had a spare and two, if someone had taken it they most likely wouldn’t know what it was, probably mistaking it for some jewellery and would have no idea how to use it.

Still, his eyes narrowed as he moved some piles of stuff around in search of the Vortex Manipulator, he didn’t like the idea of someone taking something that belonged to him. Hopefully it was just misplaced, he consoled himself.

As he exited the hotel, the bright morning’s light forcing him to shade his eyes, he put the missing item out of his head and, smiling as he went to join The Doctor and his merry band at the bungalow.

When Jack arrived the only one stirring was The Doctor, which wasn’t really that unusual because he rarely ever slept and when he did it was mostly cat naps. He didn’t seem to need as much sleep as everybody else.

The Time Lord was staring, disbelievingly, at a massive bowl of fruit on the table in front of him.

Jack poured himself a cup of coffee before sitting down next to him, “what’s up?”

“All I said was I wished I had some fruit for breakfast, and that appeared,” he nodded toward the bowl as if it was some sort of snake coiled to strike.

“And that’s what it is,” Jack took a sip of his coffee, “I don’t see the problem.”

The Doctor turned to face him, “that bowl is bigger than my head. There is no way I could eat all that!”

“Then don’t,” the ex-Time Agent replied reasonably. Then changing the subject he asked casually, “did David make it back OK last night?”

“He got here around 2am local time, went straight up to bed,” the thin Time Lord sighed, “I think I’m losing him Jack, he seems really distant this time out.”

“Doc, you know I try not to give advice but you need to talk to him. I mean really talk not just your normal ‘let’s pretend nothing’s wrong’ type of chats,” Jack sat back in his chair, “he’s a great guy but he’s also had a lot to come to grips with since he met you, and you need to help him deal with that. If you don’t step up, you will lose him.”

“He told you what happened, then?”

Jack nodded, “hell Doc, if that happened to me, even with my experience, I’d probably be a basket case. He’s like you, in so many ways, and so unless you two can work this out, I don’t think either one of you will be able to continue on.”

The Doctor seemed to take in Jack’s words of wisdom, and sat in thoughtful silence for a while. Then he smiled as he reached over and grabbed a banana from the bowl in front of him taking huge bite, “want one?” he mumbled around his mouthful.

Jack shook his head, “I give up, you win,” with that he took an apple and crunched into it.


	16. Chapter 16

The Master entered the dining area looking like he hadn’t slept in days. He kept looking over this shoulder and running his hands down his suit jacket to pat one of the pockets like it was a worry-stone.

Jack watched this all with a bemused smile, “do I even want to know?” he asked.

“I doubt it,” The Doctor replied after hastily swallowing the rest of the banana, “but I’m going find out anyway. What’s wrong with you?” he turned to his fellow Time Lord.

“Have you seen the rest of me?” The Master asked distractedly.

This made Jack arch his eyebrows, “you seem to be intact, from what I can see with you being fully clothed and all, what is it you’re missing?”

“The others,” the dark suited Time Lord snapped, “I heard them talking, whispering amongst themselves all night…” he spun around, then turned back to them, “and now they’re gone.”

The Doctor’s face grew serious, “you’re not telling us everything are you? What’s got you so wound up?”

“Ah…” The Master stammered, “I think they’re planning on taking over this planet.”

Jack snorted, “so much for not being able to harm anyone.”

No sooner had Jack said those words a loud crashing sound came from somewhere outside. The Doctor leapt to his feet and ran to the window; looking out into the cul-de-sac he could see the first signs of unrest.

A phalanx of what appeared to be simulants was slowly advanced towards the main hotel, the living beings in their path were either taken up, and dragged unwillingly along or pushed aside and apparently commanded to stay back. Not that anyone seemed to need to be told that twice.

Jack soon joined him to peer out at the chaos. The simulants were marching steadily on, grabbing some guests on their way, subduing those who put up a struggle by any means possible. Wincing as one of them smashed its fist into a red-face humanoid’s gut, Jack stepped back from the window.

“I don’t suppose you would approve of us just slinking back to the TARDIS and getting away from here as quickly as possible?” The Master offered hopefully coming up behind them.

“Even if that were possible,” The Doctor rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “and it isn’t, we can’t just let them become some sort of mechanical hit squad.”

“So you and Captain Hormone are just going to dive into the fray?”

“Almost correct,” Jack smiled winningly, “you’re coming with us.”

“What about the mongrel?” The Master gestured up to the second floor, “surely he isn’t exempt from the ‘fun’ is he?”

“I’ll go get him,” Jack volunteered and then bounded up the stairs.

“Hope he doesn’t try to fit in a quick shag while he’s up there,” The Master grumbled.

Seconds later Jack’s face appeared over the railing, “he’s not here!” he called down to them.

“I heard him come in earlier,” The Doctor frowned, “I didn’t hear him leave. Check again!”

What seemed like an eternity later Jack came back into view, “I’m telling ya Doc, he’s not here, I’ll go check the hot tub,” he came trotting down the stairs and rounded the corner to go to the back of the house.

When he returned his demeanour told the whole tale, David was missing.

“I hope he’s not out there,” The Master gestured at the ever growing riot.

“Why do you care?” Jack growled.

“I don’t,” the dark suited Time Lord replied, “but he,” he pointed at The Doctor, “will be impossible to deal with if he’s lost another one of his pets.”


	17. Chapter 17

The Doctor was clearly torn, he was obviously very concerned as to David's whereabouts but he was also worried about the events going on outside. He kept cutting his eyes from the upper level of the house to the window, fairly hopping in place in indecision.

Jack finally put him out of his misery, "you take The Master and see what's happening out there and I'll continue my search for David," he offered.

The thin Time Lord looked relieved not to have to make that decision, smiled, the other Time Lord grimaced, "you mean I'm supposed to jump into that fray while you and pretty boy have a tearful reunion and sneaky tryst?"

"Sucks to be you," Jack laughed. Then growing serious he gave The Doctor a quick hug, "you be careful out there!"

The Doctor gave him a cheeky salute and opened the door, "come on!" he grabbed The Master by the hand pulling him along.

"If I get killed," The Master grumbled, "I'll never forgive you."

"It would be my luck to have you haunt me for the rest of my days," the thin Time Lord agreed, "now less talking and more doing!"

The simulants seemed to be carrying out a very precise attack, they were choosing only a handful of guests to single out and it was apparent there was an agenda in mind.

As they passed one group of them, The Doctor was allowed to go forward with no attempts to stop him, in fact the robots barely acknowledged his presence. But as The Master made his way through the very same crowd many hands reached for him. It was only by the combined efforts of the laser and sonic screwdrivers that prevented him from being carried off.

"What criteria are they using?" The Doctor wondered aloud.

"The wicked shall be punished," a mechanical voice informed him. He whipped around to see an android, in the guise of a small girl, her blonde hair in pigtails in sharp contrast to the mask of hatred on her face. She made a grab at The Master but he jumped aside.

"And who decides that?" 

"It is written..." she continued as move of her fellow kind came towards them.

"Not to interrupt this wonderfully stimulating philosophical debate," The Master broke in, then gestured at the circling crowd.

"Good point," The Doctor nodded, "we need to get to the central building, if we can shut down the main computers, then," he stepped back as one of the simulants, this time in the form of a pink cloud of fur with sharp claws swiped at them, "we can turn them all off."

As soon as he got those words out of his mouth all eyes turned to him, "get him!" one of them shouted.

Seeing this turn of events The Doctor grabbed The Master's hand and took off at a dead run.

"Have you ever heard the term 'inside thoughts'?" the dark suited Time Lord panted as they moved swiftly towards the hotel.

The Doctor just grinned apologetically and put on a burst of speed.


	18. Chapter 18

Giving up on the physical search Jack removed the bio-scanner from his belt and set it to David's unique biology. After a few minutes, the scanner beeped once loudly, indicating that the tall Scot was no where on the planet. He reset the range for the whole of the star system with the same results.

"Not good," Jack sighed as he sat down on the actor's bed. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully trying to remember the details of their last encounter. He knew that the other man had been in some emotional distress, but had thought by the time the evening was through he had been in a better mind-space. 

Then it hit him, the missing Vortex Manipulator! He stood up with a groan of realisation. The device was tricky at best to operate even by someone of his experience. The particular model the Time Agency had issued him was psychically linked to the wearer. But you had to be very precise or it would send you someplace you really didn't wish to go.

Closing his eyes, taking deep breaths to fight the panic that was creeping in, Jack tried to tune the back up Vortex Manipulator to the same frequency as the missing one to see if it could detect a signal. No dice.

"Oh David," he blew out a long breath, "what have you done?" 

\-------

The two Time Lords had reached the courtyard of the hotel, and stopped behind a row of tall hedges to assess their best options for getting inside. The building was completely surrounded by all manner and variety of simulants in various forms and guises. The ones closest to the doorways had managed to obtain weapons. 

The Master took this all in with his mismatched eyes wide, "this is a suicide mission!" he proclaimed, "there is no way you can get past them!"

"I think you mean 'we' can't get past them," The Doctor corrected him, "and yes we can, it's just going to take some planning."

"Why in Rassilon's name would I want to go charging into certain death with you when I could remain here, in hiding, and stay safe?" The Master shot back. As if on cue a loud crashing sound came from behind them and a rush of simulants, arms reaching out towards him swarmed towards him.

"I'm not sure what definition you're using for 'safe', but I sort of doubt it means what you think it does..."

"Just shut up!" The Master snapped, "and use your limited brain power to get us out of here instead of flapping your lips!"

The Doctor seemed perplexed by that last bit, and thrust his lips out comically, "do they really flap?" he pondered, "I don't really have very generous ones this regeneration, so I can't imagine..." his musings were cut off as The Master grabbed him by the back of his suit collar and dragged him towards the hotel's back door.

No sooner had they gained the relative safety of the hotel the building went into lock down. Metal grates slid down over the large plate glass windows and iron doors clanged shut over the entrance ways.  
"About time!" The Master chortled.

"Except," The Doctor started at the security doors in dismay, "David and Jack are still out there."


	19. Chapter 19

Or at least Jack was, he had put out a sort of interplanetary APB on David, asking anyone listening to keep an eye out for the tall Scot. He was almost sure the actor had taken the Vortex Manipulator but without his equipment back at Torchwood he couldn't track where it was or where he had gone.

Looking out of the windows on the second floor of the bungalow Jack saw that the area surrounding it was free of simulants. Figuring it was time to rejoin the Time Lords, he did a quick inventory of his weapons and then bounded down the stairs and out the door.

\------

The Doctor had just reached the empty reception area when someone popped out from a hidden doorway and pointed a rather menacing looking gun at them, "emergency protocol shut down! Gamma-alpha-blue!" she shouted at them.

The two Time Lord exchanged puzzled glances at this greeting. "She thinks we're robots," The Master rolled his eyes, "not that it appears to be working anyway."

The thin Time Lord stepped a bit closer, "we're guests, not simulants. I'm The Doctor, by the way."

She lowered the weapon and looked at them cautiously, "how can I be sure of that?" she asked.

"You can't, but you can take my word for it and I do have an honest face."

"What about him?" she jerked the gun in the general direction of The Master.

"He does not have an honest face or an honest any part of his body," The Doctor shook his head sadly. Then switching gears he asked, "the emergency shut down isn't going very well is it?"

The woman frowned at him, "how do you know that?"

"I'm clever," the thin Time Lord replied with a grin, "and the fact is that the simulants are running amok and this building just went into lock down. All pretty good indications that things are not going to plan. What's your name?"

"Anraya," she replied distractedly, "we've shut down the controlling computers, and they've booted themselves right back up again. We cut the power, it turns on by itself. The engineers were just going to unplug the machines but they found that the problem is that the environmental controls can't be shut off or we'll lose our atmosphere."

"Aren't those on a completely different set of computers?"

"They are supposed to be, but it's looking like someone, or something, has cross contaminated the data," she trailed off a look of hopelessness on her face, "and before they could go any further they were rushed by some of the rogue simulants and carried off, it's just me now!"

"They planned ahead," The Doctor rubbed his eyes, "very smart, and very bad news for us." He went silent for a moment then brightened, "take me to the central control area, I have an idea!"

"For one moment there I thought you were going to say 'take me to your leader'," The Master grumbled.


	20. Chapter 20

The server room was easy to get to but pretty hard to get into. A few very imposing looking simulants were guarding the entrance and just beyond them it was clear that they had taken the time to securely bolt and lock the room against unwanted entry.

The Doctor's keen eyes scanned the scene trying to figure out the best way in. Anraya was also trying to see past the menacing looking robots, but just as she was going to say there was no way past them The Master charged forward, opening a junction box just next to the door, pulling two cables from the confines held them up to one, then the other simulant. Once they stopped twitched he stepped back letting them fall to the ground.

Then turning with an air of satisfaction he smiled at his fellow Time Lord's open mouthed, surprised expression, "if I waited for you to come up with something..."

"There's still the matter of the door," Anraya gestured at the server room, "and there are probably more inside."

As if they were one the two Time Lords approached the door and promptly kicked it open. Much to everyone's surprise the room, save the computer equipment, was empty.

The Master did a circuit of the room with a look of disgust on his face, "I miss the early days of human computing. Huge rooms full of equipment, tape drives, printers spitting out long ribbons of paper," he spread his arms wide, "now it's all so tiny and unimportant looking."

The Doctor gave a half smile at this rant, and then sauntered over to the lone rack mounted server bank. The whole thing barely reached his chest. The computers were powered up although they were clearly no longer plugged in, and someone had removed the back up batteries as well.

Just as he made to slide the entire unit away from the wall the sound of footsteps, metallic and running towards them could be heard. "Seal the room!" he commanded.

Anraya spun in a circle frantically, "how are we supposed to do that? You two broke the door it's half off the hinges!"

"Think of something!" The Doctor shot back, "but do it soon!"

As the simulants came into view The Master sprung into action, pulling out his laser screwdriver and fusing the metal doors back together as Anraya piled stray bits of office equipment up as an impromptu barricade.

"We're sealed in, for now, but that won't hold them for long!" the dark suited Time Lord informed his counterpart, "so I hope you know what you're doing," as soon as he said that The Doctor dropped to his knees to peer under the rack, "what are you doing?" 

The Doctor's voice was muffled as he tore away flooring tiles and half crawled under the rack. The Master kicked one of the trainer clad feet now sticking out from under the contraption. When that got no reply to kicked the other foot, this time harder, "I asked you a question."

This resulted in the thin Time Lord sliding back out from under the servers, "I said, it's wired itself into the building's infrastructure which is why just unplugging it didn't work," he tugged on something and pulled a line of wires out, "it's part of the grid now, not just a simple set of computers anymore."

"Can't you cut them?" Anraya asked as the pounding on the door started, "if you can shut that down..."

"Didn't you say that would shut down the atmosphere pumps too?"

"Damn," she sighed, and sat down on the floor with a thud.

"Just need to get into the computer's programming and figure out which...." The Doctor started.

"Then I suggest you shut up and get on with it!" The Master growled as the distinct sound of a saw blade biting into metal filled the room.


	21. Chapter 21

Jack, weapons at the ready, expecting to have to fight off the hoards of simulants, instead they seemed to be completely oblivious to him. He saw some of the frightened guests being taken up and carted away and his first instinct was to help them, but he needed to find The Doctor, and getting sidetracked was not going to help.

It was pretty obvious where the Time Lord was headed, Jack knew the central computers were located in a back room at the hotel. He had flashed his most charming smile at the receptionist and later had a quick tour of some of the more interesting areas of the building, including her private quarters. He grinned at the memory momentarily forgetting what he was doing before re-concentrating on the task at hand.

One of the simulants was still in the form that it had used when attending Jack's party, the Quaot with its pink fur glistening as it moved, "hey," he called out to it, "what is it you are trying to accomplish?"

It seemed puzzled at first, as if wondering why this man was not running and screaming like the rest of the guests, "judgement day," it finally answered.

"And you're the judge and jury?" Jack stood in front of it, hands on hips, his fingers just brushing his guns in case he needed them.

"We have watched and observed the evil, it is time for us to step in and save you from yourselves," the Quaot android continued, "it is for your own good."

"It doesn't work that way," Jack shook his head, "you're machines, pretty sophisticated ones I'll admit but you don't judge the living, and you are supposed to be programmed not to harm us!" he gestured as a shrieking woman was thrown over what looked to be a Viking’s shoulder.

"We are saving you from harm," the simulant insisted, "once this world is cleansed we will do so for the whole universe, bringing peace and an end to all that is evil."

"And what if I try to stop you?" 

"Then you will be removed," the Quaot stepped forward, its long clawed hands reaching for Jack.

"Wrong answer," the ex-Time Agent growled, and seconds later the robot was reduced to smoking pile of dust.

As satisfying as blowing away the Quaot-bot was, Jack had now attracted unwanted attention to himself. The minute he had fired the gun many pairs of mechanical eyes now focused on him. He eyed his escape route carefully, measuring up the amount of ammunition he had and the distance to the hotel before taking off at a dead run, with several simulants hot on his trail.

Once he reached the door he realised the whole building was sealed. A quick scan confirmed that it was just a standard lock down, not dead-lock sealed which was good, but glancing up at his pursuers it was a race to see what would happen first. Would he get the door open or would they get to him before he could?

Hoping for the former he focused his attentions on the door, pulling a pick set out of his coat pocket he worked the tools into the lock, desperately trying to ignore the ever closer sound of footsteps.

\----

The Doctor was also working through a distraction. It wasn't bad enough that the computers he was trying to access kept locking him out as soon as he had figured out the latest password, or the rasping of metal on metal as whatever it was on the other side of the door tried to get in. No, it was The Master's running commentary that was making his head hurt.

"Oh come on," the dark suited Time Lord groused, "surely you have two brain cells to rub together? I know you were never the A student and I think you slept through most code classes but even an ape could do that!"

The last of his patience reached The Doctor pushed his chair away from the keyboard, "OK then, you do it!" he folded his hands in his lap and leaned back.

The Master looked surprised at first then pulling up another chair started to type furiously, muttering under his breath. As his face grew more red, and the words were being spat out through clenched teeth the racket outside abruptly stopped.

"I don't know what I did but I think I.." he paused as the door began to glow bright red, almost as red as Anraya's eyes as she levelled an impressive looking weapon and pointed it straight at his head.


	22. Chapter 22

Before The Master could bring this latest development to his fellow Time Lord's attention the door gave way with an impressive bang and fell to the floor. Due to all the smoke it was hard to see what was waiting on the other side. But the fact that they were not rushed by a sea of robots was at least a temporary relief. 

The simulant who had called herself Anraya was so distracted by this that The Master was able to easily disarm her, "you knew she was an android!" he yelled at The Doctor, "and you didn't tell me?"

"What was the phrase you used?" The Doctor asked, with a smirk, "oh yes, 'two brain cells to rub together'! I would have thought with your 'impressive' mind you would have known that!"

"Then why did you let her get so close to us, she could have killed me, err, us!"

"She got us into the server room," the thin Time Lord shrugged, "and it was better to have her here where I could keep an eye on her instead of her being out there causing chaos."

Grudgingly seeing the wisdom of that The Master focused back on the still smoking doorway, "speaking of chaos..."

"I've been called many things," Jack smiled stepping into the room, "but that's a first for me!"

"Goody!" The Master's voice was dripping with sarcasm, "the boy scouts have arrived."

The Doctor peered past Jack into the hallway, "only one boy scout," he corrected distractedly, "where's David?"

"Good question," Jack sighed, "I couldn't find him. I did a scan and he's nowhere to be found."

"Reunions can wait," The Master interjected as the doorway became filled with red eyed simulants pushing to get it.

"I'm getting tired of you," Jack growled at them, then walking over to desk he typed something on the keyboard and the hallway became infused with yellow light. Then a blink of an eye later, the simulants disappeared.

"How did you do that?" The Master breathed out.

"I had a nice afternoon in the company of the lead programmer when I first got here, that's how I was able to get as many simulants as I wanted instead of the twenty per day limit. And in a bit of pillow talk he told me the emergency override code," the ex-Time Agent shrugged.

"Is there anyone you haven't...." came the exasperated reply.

The Doctor cut him off, "I'll send a distress signal and get the corporate planet down here to settle this mess," then he turned to Jack, "are you sure he's gone?"

"I'm sure," Jack rubbed his face, "and there's worse news. He um, came to my hotel room, and well, spent some time there. When I woke up my Vortex Manipulator was missing."

"You don't think?" the thin Time Lord's eyes grew wide with horror as it sunk in, "he doesn't know how to use one of those things! He could have wound up anywhere, how could you just leave it lying around?"

"To be fair, Doc, I didn't exactly tell him to take it," Jack protested, "I just took it off when I was 'entertaining' as it has some sharp edges, you know?"

The Doctor took a deep breath and went still, so Jack continued, "he seemed pretty upset when I saw him last, he probably just went back to Earth. The device is psychically linked to the wearer, so he's probably done a Dorothy thing."

When that just got him a puzzled look Jack clicked his heels together three times, "you know, there's no place like home?"

"Let's hope so," The Doctor sighed, "time to head out, I'm assuming since your 'motor' has been nicked you'll need a ride?"

"I have a back up one," Jack pushed up his sleeve to reveal another Vortex Manipulator, "but I can't pass up an opportunity to spend more time with you." Then he glanced at The Master, "even if he's coming too."

They left the control room, towards the TARDIS and Earth and hopefully find David waiting for them. As the doors clicked shut The Doctor offered up a small prayer to whatever deities that may be listening that the tall Scot was safe, although the nagging feeling he had told him otherwise.


End file.
